OF all the growing piles of information swirling around lockdown parties at the Prime Minister’s home and office in Downing Street, the most disturbing is the suggestion that the penalty for such blatant law-breaking could amount to no more than a fine and a slap on the wrists.

Human rights lawyer Adam Wagner told the BBC yesterday that the most likely punishment Boris Johnson faces is a fine of up to £10,000 through an accumulation of fixed penalty notices.

The Prime Minister is man who considers it perfectly reasonable to pay £112 to redecorate Downing Street. He’s hardly going to balk to finding £10,000 to get him off the hook for parties which sent a message to families who had suffered through sticking to Covid restrictions that they were mugs for doing so.

Is that really all these revelations and controversy were for? A clutch of fixed-penalty notices and a relatively piddling fine? If Boris Johnson emerges from this fiasco still as Prime Minister it will be a scandal. Yet it seems unlikely that public outcry south of the Border will be enough to pressurise Tory MPs to kick him out, which under current rules is the only way to force his departure.

The National:

Meanwhile Johnson is busy trying desperately to consign to history the restrictions he so blatantly ignored. In the next two weeks he wants to scrap the need for self-isolation despite all the advice from scientific experts that this would ignore public health requirements. Not only that, it flies in the face of logic.

In England the new rules would suggest that it is perfectly fine to go to work knowing you have Covid while at the same time urging you to stay at home. If your employer insists your turn up to work after a positive Covid test you would lose the right to refuse and to stay at home. It borders on madness.

Expert opinion is clear. Dr James Gill, honorary clinical lecturer at Warwick Medical School, said this week: “Frankly I see no reason for the scrapping of this law [the requirement to isolate]. Certainly not from the perspective of patients, nor from a business case either as the omicron variant is highly contagious and thus more likely to spend through a staff group if people feel compelled to come to work with a ‘mild Covid-19 infection’.”

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And Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor in the school of medicine at the University of Leeds, said: “In my view the way that this is being implemented is a profound mistake. Again. Literally blinding ourselves by removing testing and isolation robs us of the most fundamental means of controlling the spread of this virus.”

I could go on but there’s little point. The truth is these proposed changes have nothing to do with public health and everything to do with changing the perception of the pandemic in order to dilute public anger at Downing Street parties held right under Johnson’s nose and events which he undeniably attended.

Even criticism from Tory grandees has so far failed to dislodge him from the seat of power. Yesterday former Conservative prime minister John Major said Johnson and his officials “broke lockdown laws”. He added that the Government felt it need not obey the rules and that “outright lies breed contempt”.

It’s difficult to recall any Prime Minister in recent memory who held the electorate in such contempt that they so brazenly and continuously lied, twisted the facts and placed his political opponents in danger from the mob in a disgraceful attempt to save his own political skills.

The National: Chancellor Rishi Sunak speaking at a press conference in Downing Street, London.

And yet his MPs believe that the level of public support outweighs the strength of demands they should act to remove him. The terrible truth is that they may be right. Recent opinion polls show his popularity is falling. Ipsos MORI’s latest UK Political Pulse survey published this week showed him scoring worse than Labour leader Keir Starmer and his own Chancellor Rishi Sunak (above) for leadership traits, including honestly.

But when asked if a Labour government led by Starmer would do a better job than Boris Johnson’s Conservatives only 33% of respondents agreed.

The public perception of Johnson is just one of many examples of the way in which Scotland and England are drifting ever further apart. The Prime Minister was loathed in Scotland even before coming to power. His current standing is rock bottom, which is why Tory MSPs felt compelled to demand his resignation early in the Partygate crisis. It would have taken them less than a minute to weigh up the relative effect on their electoral success of dumping him versus rallying to his support.

The Scottish Government’s handling of the pandemic has not been universally popular. The hospitality industry in particular as felt its cautious approach has caused bars, restaurants nightclubs significant problems. Despite that, the First Minister’s insistence on being led by science rather than political considerations has certainly earned her more trust that the more reckless and politically-driven approach south of the Border.

The National: Humza Yousaf

The Scottish Government has been scathing in its criticism of Johnson’s latest move to remove the remaining Covid restrictions. Health Minister Humza Yousaf said yesterday: “This wasn’t a thought-out policy backed up by public health expert advice “It was a dead cat thrown on the despatch box of the House of Commons in order to distract and deflect.”

The two governments also differ in their approach to dealing with the crisis caused by significant rises in the cost of living. Westminster last week gave the impression that it would reduce spiralling energy bills by £200 for customers in Scotland, England and Wales. It was hardly a surprise when it emerged that wasn’t quite true. In fact the £200 was a loan to customers which had to be paid back at £40 a year over five years.

Westminster also promised an extra £290 million would go to Scotland as a result of its decision to cut council tax in England which could not be implemented in Scotland which already has another council tax relief scheme. This turned out to be more disinformation. This isn’t new money at all. The Scottish and Welsh governments have both said it’s not accurate to describe the cash as extra money.

Scotland now find itself in the ridiculous position of producing more than 90% of the electricity it needs from sustainable sources and having its own gas reserves, albeit at a time power production is transition from fossil fuels, and yet we are facing unprecedented price rises.

The challenges thrown up by Covid – in respect of the pandemic itself and of the huge issues around the best way of rebuilding the economy after lockdown – have proved too large and two fundamental for devolution to accommodate. Scotland has been hindered by Westminster’s completely different attitude on both aspects.

The problems will become worse as attention turns from the pandemic itself to the economic recovery. Holyrood’s ambition to create a greener, more sustainable, fairer and more just country is not shared by Westminster and the Scottish Government simply doesn’t have the powers to successfully turn it into a reality by itself.

Scotland and England have grown so far apart that the United Kingdom simply cannot reconcile the very different demands of both countries. In that culture clash there can be only one loser – Scotland. England’s priorities will triumph through sheer force of numbers. For proof look no further than Brexit and its fall-out.

It was good to hear this week that the SNP is ramping up discussions on its commitment to hold indyref2 by the end of 2023. Independence is the only way Scotland can look to the future with optimism and hope. The second independence referendum literally cannot come quickly enough.